Buffer attachment



J. A. HUNT Jan. l1, 1938.

BUFFER ATTACHMENT Filed May 10, 1937 IVIP'Y SH/uCMO'K Z JosEPH A.

Hun/7' Patented Jan. 11, 1938 UNETED STATES PATENT orrice 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a buffer attachment and more especially to onewhich is adapted to be pivotally mounted upon a shoe finishing machineso as tocontact the surface of soles and roughen them prior to beingglued upon the bottom of a shoe. Heretofore, the buffer attachments havebeen fixed upon a constantly driven shaft upon which was also mountedother attachments for finishing the sole of a shoe after it has beenattached thereto. Since a bufier usually comprises a plurality ofsharpened wires it is evident that if the surface of this buffer, Whilebeing rotated, comes into contact with any part of the operators body,severe injury is likely to result. It is therefore, an object of thisinvention to provide a buffer for shoe finisher machines which ispivotally mounted and normally disengaged from the drive shaft of thefinishing machine, but which may be connected or disconnected to thedrive shaft by a suitable foot lever construction. Not only is this typeof construction desirable as far as preventing injury to the operator,but it is also very desirable to have the movement of the buffercontrolled by the foot of the operator while the hands of the operatorare being used to properly manage the work piece. If, for any reason, itis desired to slow up the speed of the buffer, it will only be necessaryto relieve the pressure to a limited degree upon the foot-operatedmecha- 30 nism so that a certain amount of slippage will be allowedbetween the drive shaft pulley and the belt which drives the buffer.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a finishing machine showing mypivoted buffer attachment applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 in Figure1;

Figure 3 is a sectional, plan view taken along the line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the numeral ll! denotes anend frame of a shoe finishing machine which has connected theretosuitable longitudinal struts H and I2, the strut |I being used toconnect the lower portions of the end frames, whereas, the struts 2 areused to 50 join the upper portions thereof. The end frame III has asuitable bearing l3 mounted thereon in which rotates the main driveshaft 4 of the finishing machine, said shaft having conventional pulleyl5 secured thereon. The lower portion of a belt I! normally encirclesthe pulley l5 and is slightly removed therefrom. The upper end of thisbelt is mounted upon pulley I 8, which, in turn, is fixed on the end ofbuffer shaft l9. This shaft is rotatably mounted in bearing 20 which issecure to pivoted member 2|. The rear end of the member 2| is pivoted asat 22 to one of the struts l2, whereas, the free or the front end ofthis same member normally rests upon another strut l2 which is disposedat the same level. 10

It will be noted by referring to Figure 2 that the belt I! normally doesnot contact the pulley I5, but when it is desired to cause the shaft I9to rotate and thereby rotate the buffer 24 on the end thereof it will benecessary to pivot the mem- 15 ber 2| and its associated parts to dottedline position as shown in Figure 2, This rotation is effected by meansof a suitable foot lever construction comprising a vertically disposedlink 26 which is pivotally secured as at 2! to the lower side of 20member 2|. The lower end of the link 26 is pivotally secured as at 28 tofoot lever 29 and this lever in turn, is pivoted as at 30 to bracket 3|which rests upon the fioor. When the operator presses his foot down uponthe surface 29a of 25 foot lever 29, the parts will be rotated to dottedline position in Figure 2, which will cause the belt I! to move upwardlyand frictionally engage the pulley I 5 to thereby cause the main driveshaft M to rotate the buffer 24.

The belt I! is held in the proper relative position to pulleys l5 and I8by means of slot 2m in member 2| and also by belt guide 2611 which issecured to the link 26.

When the buffer 24 is being rotated, and a work piece is being appliedthereto, a certain amount of dust and shavings will result. In order toproperly take care of this waste, the buffer 24 has been disposed withinthe confines of a conventional dust collector 32 which has leadingtherefrom a suction draft pipe 33. The draft pipe 33 communicates withthe inside of the dust collector 32 by means of restricted slots 35 and36 inside of the dust collector. Not only does this pivoted bufferattachment provide foot-operated means for effecting rotation of thebuffer at will, but it is evident that upon pressure being applied uponthe foot lever, the rotation of the board member 2| will cause thebuffer to be thrown upwardly and farther back into the dust collectorthereby insuring that all portions of the waste will be withdrawnthrough the suction pipe 33.

In the drawing and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,

and resting at all times on the second pulley and normally projectingbelow and out of contact with the pulley on the drive shaft, a footlever for raising said driven shaft to cause said belt to engage thepulley on the drive shaft to impart rotation to the driven shaft, asuction hood disposed adjacent the buffer, and the pivoted frame beingpivoted at its rear end whereby upon raising of the pivoted frame itwill also move backwardly and upwardly into said hood and into the zoneof suction so as to remove the material removed from a work piece by thebuffer.

2. In a shoe repair machine having a main frame, a drive shaft mountedfor rotation in said frame, a vertically movable frame mounted in saidframe, the inherent weight of the vertically movable frame causing it tooccupy normally a lowered position with respect to said main frame, afoot lever for raising said vertically movable frame, a driven shaftmounted in said vertically movable frame, a bufier wheel secured on saiddriven shaft, a pulley on each of said shafts, a belt normally restingon the pulley on the driven shaft and projecting below the pulley on thedrive shaft and out of contact therewith, a foot lever for raising saidvertically movable frame to move the belt into contact with the pulleyon the drive shaft to impart rotation to the driven shaft and the buffermounted thereon, said vertically movable frame being pivoted to the mainframe at the rear of the vertically movable frame, a suction hooddisposed above and rearwardly of the buffer, whereby upon upwardmovement of the vertically movable frame it will also move JOSEPH A.HUNT.

